This week's "Stitch of the Week" is the Diagonal Roumanian. The Diagonal Roumanian is a tied stitch that works up rather slowly but has a good backing. Owing to the denseness of the final product, Diagonal Roumanian is quite durable and snag-proof. The stitch has a wonderful texture and pattern and really could be used just about anywhere on your painted canvas projects.
The stitch appears to be quite simple and indeed it is but it can also be tricky. The tricky part comes from not being able to see the canvas mesh underneath pre-existing stitches. If you count carefully and proceed slowly, you should be all right.
Like most tied stitches, the Diagonal Roumanian lends itself to shading work. Howren and Robertson in More Stitches for Effect suggest: "subtly change color values in the same row by first changing the tie down element then changing the whole stitch as you move along" (p. 40). Diagonal Roumanian also lends itself for use with overdyed threads.
This versatile stitch is excellent for depicting animal fur and woolen clothing. It could also be used for tree trunks, bird nests and fields.
Pearl cotton looks great with this stitch but is a challenge to work with due to the tightness of the end result. If you are using the Diagonal Roumanian for shading work then stranded threads would be your best choice. I would, however, use fewer strands than normal.
Diagonal Roumanian is often suggested for backgrounds but I think that it would be too slow and heavy a look for most backgrounds. In my opinion, the stitch is better suited for use as a design stitch (or supporting character stitch as I like to call them).
Try stripes for an interesting effect.
The stitch appears to be quite simple and indeed it is but it can also be tricky. The tricky part comes from not being able to see the canvas mesh underneath pre-existing stitches. If you count carefully and proceed slowly, you should be all right.
Like most tied stitches, the Diagonal Roumanian lends itself to shading work. Howren and Robertson in More Stitches for Effect suggest: "subtly change color values in the same row by first changing the tie down element then changing the whole stitch as you move along" (p. 40). Diagonal Roumanian also lends itself for use with overdyed threads.
This versatile stitch is excellent for depicting animal fur and woolen clothing. It could also be used for tree trunks, bird nests and fields.
Pearl cotton looks great with this stitch but is a challenge to work with due to the tightness of the end result. If you are using the Diagonal Roumanian for shading work then stranded threads would be your best choice. I would, however, use fewer strands than normal.
Diagonal Roumanian is often suggested for backgrounds but I think that it would be too slow and heavy a look for most backgrounds. In my opinion, the stitch is better suited for use as a design stitch (or supporting character stitch as I like to call them).
Try stripes for an interesting effect. 
Diagrams? I actually clicked through from my Google Reader thinking it hadn't picked up the images of the Diagrams.
ReplyDeleteI will post a diagram tomorrow. Thanks for your comment and for reading. Look forward to hearing more from you. Stephen
ReplyDelete